Hanging Saddam Hussein

By the time you read this, the inevitable has happened. Saddam Hussein is hanged.

And I think that was a stupid thing to do. Let me make my case and then you decide.

Killing Saddam will never achieve the solutions we all seem to hope exist. Saddam was a treacherous dictator. He had killed thousands of his own countrymen and wreaked havoc in his own country and in neighboring nations. However he was not the first one. And may I dare say, will not be the last one.

The US played holier than thou and attacked Iraq on completely false news and intelligence. No one knows what the real reason was, and if you tell me “it’s all about the OIL…stupid !!!”, well that is one fucking expensive barrel of OIL is my reply.

Is it just me or has anyone noticed that the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq is now more than the total number of people killed on 9/11. Isn’t that ironic in a way ?

Just this week, the Bush Administration was dealt another scathing attack, this one literally from Heaven. Gerald Ford, the deceased 38th President of the US, had recorded an interview that he wanted aired after he passed on. In the interview aired this week, he lets loose a scathing attack on the Iraq policy of his country. And is equally harsh on his two proteges Cheney and Rumsfeld.

Going into Iraq and toppling Saddam’s regime was one thing. But then propping up his government and steering them towards killing Saddam is quite another story. Of course the US would not have wanted it any other way but that, from its puppet government. How hard a slap would it have been in the face of Bush, if the government decided that instead of hanging him, they would put him in solitary confinement with no parole for a lifetime.

How may other despots have there been before, and what did the US do to them. Hitler died on his own. Mussolini was taken care of by his own people. Pol Pot lived long after his terror ended. Kim Jong-Il is still sipping Cognac and spitting Taepodong missiles and screwing around with US foreign policy. Slobodan Milosevic was kicked out by his own people and tried at the World Court where he croaked because of medical reasons.

It is not in the nature of civilized nations to go after leaders of other nations and kill and hang them. If the civilised society gets down to that level, then there is no difference between us and the ones we go after.

Do not get me wrong. I dont support any of Saddam’s acts. But I do not think that hanging him will achieve anything effective. If anything, it will enable his loyalists to somehow twist his image and make him a martyr, who was slain by the devil Western villian. The minority Sunni population will wage another series of attacks on the Shiite majority.

It would have been a master stroke to put him in jail, lock him up and throw away the key. It has been done before. Rudolf Hess one of the senior Nazi leaders, was sentenced to life in solitary confinement at Spandau, and died there. For many decades the world forgot about him, but he was still alive and had to live through those years. I am quite positive that it was the more torturous thing to do.

There can be an arguement that the people of Iraq, through their judiciary took the decision. But then, what do you expect them to do. Their judgement would for generations be clouded. As a leader of a sovereign nation, why wasn’t Saddam tried at the World Court, like Milosevic was ? I think it was partly due to America’s bully tactics to do things their own way and give a damn to the U.N. and all other humanitarian organisations.

As I am typing this, I am listening to Anderson Cooper on CNN 360 breaking news of Saddam’s death. And the more I listen to him, the more I am convinced, that keeping Saddam alive but completely out of the news would have served a larger purpose than hanging him.

6 Comments

You forgot the greatest travesty of justice wherein Idi Amin was not only let go but also lived the rest of his life in luxury. But I agree that keeping him jailed in solitary confinement would have served better but then it doesn’t make news or win elections..

Hanging Saddam has made a martyr out of him! what i really want to know now is will Bush be tried for falsely waging war on Iraq based on the WMD theory (which turned out to be a bag of lies). As you mentioned, the toll of American soldiers in Iraq has exceeded that of 9/11. Somebody has to be accountable for it and I think the blame falls squarely on Mr. Dubyaman!!

arzanDecember 30, 2006

Manish, you bring out a very valid point about killing during the Eid. I was just going to update my post with that point and saw your comment on it. I think its a slap in the face for Sunni Muslims, and something I am sure the Shiites would do for sure.

As for this being something that Saddam would’ve done….well if western society gets down to his level, then by that arguement, wesern society gotta kill itself !!

Sakshi, well there is always a possibility, but I guess this is one that will forever be up in the air. I’m pretty sure and would bet 90 cents of my dollar on it.

Aqua, you are correct. W does take a lot of the blame. I am surprised that the Democrats are not turning the screws on him. I guess it will happen when they get into power come January 01. I wouldnt be surprised if someone indicts him or starts impeachment procedures.